Pre Session Commentary - June 15 2009

Today domestic markets are likely to open negative as majority of Asian markets have opened with blood bath. The sentiments are weak across Asia as there is lack of specific news to drive the market. The US markets have also closed flat on Friday thus exuding lack of buying sentiments. In the domestic arena one could expect a lackluster trading throughout the day with an essence of mild volatility.

On Friday, the domestic markets closed with losses for the second consecutive day. The positive opening was better than anticipated however as the trading progressed the selling pressures engulfed the stocks at broader level despite positive cues from the Asian markets. The European markets on the other hand exuded negative cues. Traders were skeptic about the current high level of the benchmark indices and correction at this level seems to be inevitable. Funds and retail investors booked profits across sectors like Realty, Auto, Teck and CD as they closed with losses of 2.49%, 2.41%, 2.40% and 2.29% respectively. On the other hand, Metal and Oil & Gas stocks provided a support to markets as they gained 1.93% and 1.38% respectively. We expect the markets to be trading volatile.

The BSE Sensex closed with a loss of 173.53 points at 15,237.94 and NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 54.30 points at 4,583.40. BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps closed with losses of 112.55 points and 135.78 points at 5,235.03 and 6,014.66 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 15,600.30 and intraday low of 15,174.28.

On Friday, the US Markets closed mixed. There was narrow trading range in the southward throughout the day however towards the end some buying sentiments helped major indices to close in green. Materials stocks closed with a loss of 1.3%, which have provided leadership in recent weeks, were knocked lower as commodities came under pressure amid a rally in the U.S. dollar. Further the Semiconductor stocks also fell under pressure this session, sending the Semiconductor Index to a 1.8% loss. On stock specific move investment services firm BlackRock (-6.04) trailed after updating its outlook to reflect its agreement to pay $13.5 billion for the global investors business from Barclays (-0.63). The US light crude oil for July delivery closed low by 0.8% at $72.05 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed high by 28.34 points at 8,799.26 the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) index declined by 3.57 points to close at 1,858.80 and the S&P 500 (SPX) closed flat at 946.21.

Today major stock markets in Asia are trading negative. Hang Seng is low by 269.66 points at 18,620.02. Shanghai Composite is low by 5.497 points at 2,738.26. Japan''s Nikkei is trading low by 99.71 points at 10,036.11. Strait Times is also low by 38.72 points at 2,338.35. KLSE Composite is up by 1.19 at 1,090.15.

Indian ADRs ended lower on Friday. In the telecom space, Tata Communication was down 4.04% and MTNL was down 7.54%. In the banking space, HDFC Bank was down 2.41% and ICICI Bank was down 2.32%. In the IT space, Wipro was down 4.88% while Infosys was down 0.03%, Satyam Computers as down 14.65% and Patni Computers was down 3.99%. In other sectors, Sterlite Industries was down 0.88%, Tata Motors was down 1.89% while Dr Reddy''s Labs was down 3.47%.

The FIIs on Friday stood as net buyers in equity and debt. The Gross equity purchased stood at Rs 3,581.80 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs 10.00 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs 2,588.70 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs 0.00 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs 993.20 Crore and Rs 10.00 Crore respectively.

On Friday, the partially convertible rupee closed at 47.61/62 per dollar, flat as compared to previous close at 47.60/61. The local currency had surged an intra day high of 47.37 against the green back.

On BSE, total number of shares traded were 56.51 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs 7,897.45 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded was 129.89 Crore and total turnover was Rs 23,706.55 Crore.

Top traded volumes on NSE Nifty – Unitech with 72746311 shares, Suzlon Energy with 58382257 shares, Hindalco with 35767252 shares, Tata Steel with 14190125 shares, followed by Idea Cellular with 13909756 shares.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 781871 with a total turnover of Rs 17,244.10 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 463465 with a total turnover of Rs 28,402.22 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 1152359 with a total turnover of Rs 26,976.32 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 46406 and notional turnover was Rs 2,829.77 Crore.

Today, Nifty would have a support at 4,493 and resistance at 4,635 and BSE Sensex has support at 15,110 and resistance at 15,359.